If it is wood to be painted, then by far the easiest product for me is the premixed lightweight spackle. You can put it on with a putty knife, or your finger, smooth it with a damp rag or sponge, and usually don't need any follow up sanding or a second coat.

I used a product called Vinyl Spackling. It wasn't the cat's meow to say the least. The damp sponge kept drawing the material out of the holes. I stopped using the sponge and started using a puddy knife to scrape it flush. This worked better but is about as much work as using wood puddy and sanding since the wood puddy is much more workable. I had to fill most of the holes 2-3 times before they were done.

Any other ideas on what I'm doing wrong? The thought of being able to sponge the surface and call it done is quite appealing.

How big are yr nail holes? If they're 15ga or smaller, go with wood putty (I like Elmers. Minwax is a little more grainy, but it'll work ok too.)

I usually fill all the holes first, and then go around and wipe with a sponge. Don't get the impression that there's some fancy technique here, but if yr having probs, try wiping in 2 passes: 1) wipe AROUND the actual nail hole as close as possible. You can push fairly aggressively; the purpose is to remove all material here. 2) Lightly wipe over the hole itself; the purpose is to remove push the material in flush.

Truth be told, if I'm able to get at the putty while it's still moist, it swipes off real easy with a couple of circular swipes..

Nope they are standard finish nails. Don't recall off hand what the guage on the nails is but they are standard. I even had a hard time with the nails that they used to build the doors so it isn't the nails I was using or the depth.

There were a couple of places where I had to center punch a nail and I slipped and opened a larger holes. Those filled much better with the sponge technique.

How do you put the nails in? It was a disaster with my hammer. My drywall is just too solid. I guess nail guns are the way to go with trim?

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Yr hitting something besides drywall, then.

But yes, a pneumatic finish nailer or brad nailer is the way to go with trim unless yr doing a small amount of it.

Pneumatics countersink cleaner and smaller than hand nailing. They also allow you to stabilize the trim with one hand and shoot w the other, which'll result in less movement. Oh yeah, and they're wicked faster.

I discovered the issue here. I switched to an 18 guage nailer over the 16 guage I was using. All of the nail heads filled with one go.

I purchased a comperssor nailer combo from HD 3-4 years ago and the brad nailer that comes with that package can't shoot nails over 1 1/4". So I purchased a brand nailer that can shoot nails up to 2 1/8". Still having the occaisional miss fire where the nail comes out the side of the trim but overall much better because it produces smaller impression on the trim.

Here's another cool tip when using a pneumatic - especially on furniture: Cover the area with a strip of painter's tape. SHoot through the tape and fill/sand/paint with the tape in place. When you peel the tape, you won't see the defect. The tape also helps protect the surface from tip blemishes.

Getting wood putty on the surrounding trim or furniture sucks. On painted trim, it needs to be primed and then painted before it matches the sheen of the rest of the trim. On furniture, it can lodge in the pores and affect the stain.